Education

Last night I attended the Austin Association for Education of Young Children (AAEYC) board meeting. It was a fantastic way to meet members of the board, hear about upcoming events, and become actively involved with AAEYC.

This NAEYC chapter has a lot going on including the following upcoming events:
4/1/10 – Nominations for AAEYC Awards Deadline http://www.austinaeyc.org/awards.htm
4/5/10 – AAEYC Board Meeting
4/10/10-4/17/10 – Week of the Young Child
4/10/10 -- AAEYC Spring Conference: Preparing Leaders for the Next 50 Years: ACC Eastview Campus

I recently had the pleasure of volunteering at the Central Texas History Fair at the Austin, Texas LBJ Library and Museum. With the theme “Innovation in History: Impact and Change” students were encouraged to keep history and innovation in mind while doing their research. During the orientation for volunteers, I thought to myself how fortunate I was to have been assigned the role of a monitor instead of a judge.

The night before the conference I spent a couple of hours reviewing descriptions of the NAREA lunchtime presentations. There were nine topics to choose from and I painstakingly narrowed my selection down to five. As groups were assembling for the lunchtime presentations, I found myself forced to make a decision.
The session I chose was about using rich video clips as documentation to better understand teaching and learning. As practiced in Reggio Emilia, and eloquently described by Project Zero, “documentation makes the ‘how’ as well as the ‘what’ of learning visible.”

These two amazing educators, Lella Gandini and Amelia Gambetti, didn’t need an introduction. Conference participants literally held their breath not wanting to miss a word! Gambetti began by stating that her main goal has been to “create bridges to put together different experiences.” She referenced the Model Early Learning Center (MELC).

The NAREA conference kicked off with Co-Chairs, Margie Cooper & Jennifer Strange welcoming educators. They announced that the next study group to Reggio, Italy will be May 1st-May 8th. Since 1990, Angela Ferrario has been organizing study groups to Reggio Emilia and has worked with Reggio Children as the U.S. Liaison since 1994, when the organization was established. Angela is a U.S. reference point for the Reggio Children International Network and a founding board member of the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA).

In the spirit of uniting educators and advocates who are passionate about inspiring changes in early childhood programs, the North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) board hosted a reception at the DeCordova Museum in Lincoln, MA. Amelia Gambetti, educator, Reggio Children International Network Coordinator and Liaison for Consultancy to Schools, and Lella Gandini, Ed.D, Reggio Children U.S.

There's a new Alphabet Book out, and this one's based in the game Mega Man. Now, I've never heard of Mega Man before, but the illustrations are fantastic, and the review which led me to the video was well written and brought up many good points.

The review: http://www.destructoid.com/the-art-of-once-upon-a-pixel-mega-man-160168....

Once Upon a Pixel: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/mega-man-once-upon-a/60433

Schools have been slowly but surely moving away from lecture-style classrooms for the past two decades. The results are clear - the more students are actively engaged in the learning process, the more they retain. But what about the students who can't seem to concentrate on the material, no matter how active they are? The students labeled as ADD and ADHD?

According to the New York Times, Nickelodeon's new show "Team Umizoomi" will be bringing math to preschool students. Aside from having a fantastic name, the show's creator is Blue's Clues' writer Soo Kim and features songs reminiscent of Schoolhouse Rock. Intruiged? I certainly am. A few of the show's aims include:

-Bringing math to the preschool group, a feat accomplished by no other current television shows, excepting Sesame Street
-Looking at the world through the perspective that children are naturally good at math, and sending this message to preschoolers

I've come across yet another article, extolling the virtues of classrooms using video games to help students teach. This time, the students are learning to create their own educational games, which younger grades will then use.

My personal favorite quote from the article: "When you teach other people, you strengthen 90 percent of what you know.”

Read more, at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6712738.html?industryid=47075